Tag: Oklahoma Basketball

Oklahoma Sooners can’t hang with Kansas, lose 78-55

The Oklahoma Sooners dropped yet another Big 12 matchup, this time to the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks.

Another day, and yet another bad loss to a Big 12 opponent for Porter Moser’s Oklahoma Sooners. Despite a few sparks in both halves, OU was outmatched and outgunned on both ends of the floor, and Kansas ended up running away with a 78-55 win at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

It was a very sloppy game for OU. The Sooners turned the ball over 24 times and their passes seemed off. They didn’t shoot the ball much better. OU shot 35.7% from the field and ignored the three-point shot for large portions of the game. Combine that with Kansas’ domination in the paint and the Sooners didn’t have much to work with on offense.

With or without Tanner Groves on the floor, the Sooners were manhandled down low by the Jayhawks. When Groves was in the game, he was largely left by himself defending the larger Kansas players. Without Groves, the Sooners just had no answer whatsoever for Kansas’ size and length.

Much like Oklahoma State, Kansas was a massive mismatch for OU. The Sooners were too small to get baskets in the paint and they didn’t have the shooting to keep up on the scoreboard, much less so from beyond the three-point arc.

This loss drops the Sooners 2-10 in the Big 12 and 12-13 overall. When OU does leave the Big 12, it will be not a moment to soon for the men’s basketball program.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow Ben on Twitter @bendackiw.

Past its scheduled gauntlet, No. 5 Texas basketball can work on itself

The upcoming slate of games gives Texas the opportunity to improve fundamentals.

The Texas Longhorns are through their toughest stretch of the schedule. The last four games saw the team travel to Tennessee, Kansas State and Kansas with a home battle with Baylor in the middle of the gauntlet.

I viewed the Kansas game as a scheduled loss, with Texas facing the Jayhawks in Lawrence on a Monday night. And while the Longhorns made it interesting, the team faced difficult odds from the start.

Rodney Terry’s team finished the four-game stretch with a 2-2 split, earning impressive wins over then No. 7 Kansas State and No. 11 Baylor. Now, the ‘Horns can focus on improving fundamentals during an easier stretch.

The next three games match Texas with three unranked teams. The Longhorns play host to the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday after winning the first matchup in Morgantown, 69-61.

The next two games reunite Texas with two rivals, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Albeit, neither opponent is playing well at the moment. Both the Sooners and Red Raiders endured blowout defeats on Saturday.

The next three games afford the Longhorns the ability to refine their game. If they can, Rodney Terry and company can finish the season equipped for the final stretch.

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Oklahoma’s Taylor Robertson played absolutely lights out to break the NCAA 3-point record

Step aside, Kelsey Mitchell.

No. 18 Iowa State beat No. 14 Oklahoma, 86-78, on Saturday, but there was little the Cyclones could do to stop Sooners guard Taylor Robertson from making history.

Armed with one of the smoothest shots in all of college basketball, Robertson entered Saturday’s clash tied with Kelsey Mitchell at 497 3-pointers made for the NCAA’s all-time career record.

About halfway through the first quarter, Robertson dribbled up the court, moved around a screen set by her teammate Liz Scott and pulled up from the top of the key unguarded.

The ball swished through the hoop as Robertson smiled and flashed three fingers at her bench while jogging back to the other end.

Robertson finished the game with 25 points while shooting 6-of-8 from behind the arc. It’s the third time this season that she’s made six threes in a game. Robertson also has the NCAA record for most games with five or more 3-pointers made with 42.

And Robertson has now sunk 503 career 3-pointers, making her the first to do so in the history of women’s basketball, across all three divisions, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

“Yeah, that was cool. I’ve had quite a few of those in my career here,” Robertson said on a Zoom press conference after the game of curling around a pick for the record-breaking shot.

“It feels good to get it knocked out. … Now we can just play and try to win basketball games.”

Mitchell – the former record-holder from Ohio State who now plays for the Indiana Fever – congratulated Robertson on breaking her record. While this is Robertson’s fifth season of college basketball, she set the record in one game sooner than Mitchell did. Robertson did it in 151 fewer attempts too.

Records have been falling often this women’s college basketball season. Just last week, Angel Reese passed Sylvia Fowles for LSU’s consecutive double-double record. Meanwhile, Ta’Niya Latson is rewriting record books at Florida State. Latson, Reese and Robertson have given women’s basketball fans something positive to distract them away from injuries to stars, like UConn’s Azzi Fudd.

Robertson is averaging 11 points per game this season and makes about 2.7 3-pointers per game. According to HerHoopStats, she’s eighth nationally in points per play with a mark of 1.22 and is 15th in assist-turnover ratio at 3.13. While she’s not scoring in boatloads very often this season, she’s been incredibly efficient, which has helped Oklahoma win a whole lot of games.

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Alabama MBB suffers ugly loss to Oklahoma, 93-69

Alabama is defeated on the road in an ugly one. The team returns to Tuscaloosa to take on Vanderbilt.

Alabama men’s basketball traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sooners in the 2023 edition of the Big 12-SEC Showdown. Last year, the Crimson Tide defeated Baylor. This year might be one to forget.

Nate Oats and his team suffered their third loss of the 2022-2023 season to Oklahoma with a final score of 93-69.

The Sooners dominated the Crimson Tide throughout the entire game, as Alabama only held the lead once for less than thirty seconds near the beginning of the contest.

Though this will likely cause No. 2 Alabama to fall in the rankings, the team is still extremely likely to earn a high-ranking seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  The overall record for the team falls to 18-3, but remains perfect in conference play at 8-0.

The team will regroup and return to Tuscaloosa to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores for the second time this season.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama basketball as the season progresses.

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Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!

Oklahoma’s Jalen Hill slammed down a supersonic poster dunk on Alabama star Brandon Miller

Whoa, Jalen Hill!

The Oklahoma men’s basketball team wasn’t letting the second-best team in the country off easy.

The Sooners were proving themselves more than worthy of playing with No. 2 Alabama, as they held a commanding lead over the Crimson Tide during the second half of Saturday’s home contest.

While up 62-46 with 14 minutes and change to go, junior forward Jalen Hill took in a lob as he ran to get under the rim and blasted in a supersonic dunk that reverberated throughout Lloyd Noble Center.

It just so happened that Alabama’s star freshman forward Brandon Miller was on the receiving end of Hill’s poster.

Miller is widely expected to be a top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, and he doesn’t find himself on the end of a stellar play like that much.

Hill, on the other hand, is undoubtedly going to treasure making such a splash play against such an elite NBA prospect. It’s the kind of firework that has helped Oklahoma play as well as it has against one of the best basketball teams in the nation.

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Texas basketball has two games to prepare for No. 10 Creighton

Gonzaga is only the beginning of a loaded schedule. Here’s some storylines to follow.

Texas basketball secured a resume-topping win over No. 2 Gonzaga this week. Contrary to what one might think, the schedule difficulty isn’t all that far down from here.

The Longhorns have a pair of Top 20 matchups on the horizon. After home games with North Arizona and UT-Rio Grande Valley, the team will play consecutive nationally televised games with No. 10 Creighton and No. 19 Illinois.

The above games are quite a start to December. Albeit, Texas may need those tests to prepare them for Big 12 play.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will have two familiar faces for Texas. Former Texas Tech guard and Chris Beard recruit Terrence Shannon Jr leads the Illini in scoring with 22.7 points per game. Former Baylor defensive specialist Matthew Mayer is also part of the team.

Let’s look at a few milestone games and storylines to follow.

Trio of Oklahoma Sooners earn preseason All-Big 12 honors

As voted on by the coaches, three Oklahoma Sooners earned preseason All-Big 12 honors led by a pair of unanimous selections.

Led by unanimous selections for [autotag]Madi Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Taylor Robertson[/autotag], the Oklahoma Sooners earned three preseason All-Big 12 selections as voted on by the coaches.

Announced Wednesday, Williams and Robertson represent the only school to feature multiple unanimous selections.

Williams, from Fort Worth, Texas, earned her second consecutive unanimous preseason honor. She returns for her fifth season in Norman after a strong 2021 that saw her lead the Sooners with 18 points per game and 7 rebounds per game. Here 2021 earned her a unanimous All-Big 12 selection.

Robertson is the Big 12’s all-time leader in three-pointers made and earned a  unanimous All-Big 12 selection at the conclusion of 2021. Last season she averaged 17.2 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game, earning All-America honorable mention honors.

Plagued by injuries in the 2021-2022 season, [autotag]Ana Llanusa[/autotag] earned preseason honorable mention honors. She provides a third big-time scoring threat for [autotag]Jennie Baranczyk[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners. In 10 games, Llanusa averaged 17.3 points and 2.3 assists per game.

Only four players in all were unanimous selections for the league’s preseason honors. [autotag]Ashley Joens[/autotag] of Iowa State and [autotag]Rori Harmon[/autotag] of Texas were the other unanimous selections. Joens was voted the preseason Big 12 player of the year.

SEC-Big 12 Challenge matchups are set. Who will Alabama be playing?

Alabama will hit the road and face a soon-to-be SEC team in the SEC, Big 12 Challenge!

Alabama men’s basketball will once again be participating in the annual SEC-Big 12 challenge where the two conferences meet and square off.

Last season, the Crimson Tide took on and defeated No. 4 Baylor in a great game.

For the 2022-2023 season, Nate Oats and company will travel to Norman, Oklahoma to face the Sooners.

These two teams have faced each other six times with the series even at three apiece. The latest contest was in January of 2021 when Oklahoma won in a close game in Tuscaloosa, 66-61.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to cover Alabama basketball as the offseason continues.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today!

ESPN and University of Oklahoma announce multi-year agreement to launch ‘SoonerVision’ on ESPN+

The University of Oklahoma and ESPN have reached an agreement on a new partnership, which will launch “SoonerVision” for on the streaming platform ESPN+.

The college athletics landscape is forever changing and shifting in many ways from conference realignment to NIL to media rights.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been directly affected by all three in recent years and now they get to be a part of it once again.

After years with Bally Sports, the Sooners will enter a multi-year agreement with ESPN+ with an Oklahoma specific channel called “SoonerVision.”

The partnership with ESPN+ is the most expansive of its kind for a university athletics program. Oklahoma athletic director and Vice President Joe Castiglione in a release by the official athletics website says, “SoonerVision on ESPN+ builds upon our previous media successes by offering over 1,000 hours annually of live OU sports events and other programming to ESPN+’s growing subscriber base of more than 21.3 million. As a result, OU fans will now have an easily accessible year-round media home on all their screens.”

In many ways, it sets the stage for Oklahoma as it will make its way to the SEC in the coming years and become a part of the SEC Network also tied in a tight partnership with ESPN.

The infamous Oklahoma pay-per-view football game that’s become an annual occurrence will be no longer as that game likely slots into the “one regular season OU football game” category for those who carry an ESPN+ subscription.

The spring football game will also be accessible via ESPN+. The rest of Oklahoma’s football games will still be found on the ESPN family of networks or on Fox.

Oklahoma basketball will have 25 or more games found on ESPN+ along with other Olympic sports live games like track and field and more.

An ESPN+ subscription also includes access to professional sports like MLB, NHL, LaLiga, Bundesliga, and many other college sports competitions.

The deal allows the Sooner fans access to content from years past and also grants access to OU’s pro day, pregame shows, and a more immersive Sooner experience across the board.

Beginning in August, the content will be available on ESPN+ via the “SoonerVision” landing page, with live events beginning at the start of the fall athletics season.

Pricing for ESPN+ is $6.99 a month (or $69.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com, or on the ESPN App (mobile and connected devices). It is also available as part of The Disney Bundle that gives subscribers access to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $13.99/month (Hulu w/ads) or $19.99/month (Hulu w/o ads). Subscribers to Hulu + Live TV also receive ESPN+ at no additional cost.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

Former OU guard De’Vion Harmon dishes on playing the Sooners

Will Sooner fans circle the date when De’Vion Harmon returns to Norman?

Oklahoma fans know a thing or two about former point guard De’Vion Harmon, who announced his return to the Big 12 Conference on Thursday.

After spending a season in Eugene with the Oregon Ducks, Harmon chose to play for the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2022-23 season. He cited the culture as the main reason in a recent interview with Red Raider Sports. With his return to the conference, he will play against his former team, the Sooners. Harmon opened up about his time in Norman and what it would mean to play Oklahoma.

“I have actually thought about that,” Harmon said when asked about playing Oklahoma. “That game will definitely bring a lot of emotions and nerves. I don’t know how the fans are going to treat me when I go back to Norman, but it is going to be different. That game is going to be fun, and it will definitely be a game that is circled on my calendar just like every other game but that game will mean something — not saying it means more than the other games because every game matters but it will mean something because of the history with me playing in Oklahoma. I have nothing bad to say about Norman, so I am excited to go back and play against them.”

Harmon played 56 games over two seasons with Oklahoma. During his time with the Sooners, he averaged 9.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. This past year with Oregon, Harmon averaged 10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 35 games.

When the Sooners play the Red Raiders in Norman, it will be interesting to see how the Oklahoma faithful treat Harmon upon his return to the Lloyd Noble Center.

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